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Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Android Wear and iOS News

Google has announced that iOS is an officially supported operating system for Android Wear. Users with an iPhone 5, 5C, 5S, 6, or 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 and above will be able to pair with "newer" Android Wear devices, download the app, and be off and running.

Until now, smartwatch platforms from Google and Apple have been ecosystem lock-in devices. If you have an Android phone, you have to get an Android Wear watch, and if you have an iPhone you have to get an Apple Watch. By supporting both OSes, Android Wear will have a much larger potential user base to try and sell a watch to.

Since Google controls the Android operating system, it created specific hooks in the OS for Android Wear to plug into. On iOS—where Google is not in control—things have to be different, don't they? We've been told the iOS experience is "similar" to what users get on Android—rich notifications, voice commands, and Google Now cards will be present. Any differences between the Android and iOS implementations will have to be investigated once the app comes out, but just judging from the supplied picture, contact images will not show up on the watch when the message is sent.

iOS support will come to the LG Watch Urbane and "all future Android Wear devices." If you have an older Android Wear device and were hoping to pair it with an iPhone, you're out of luck.

Regardless of how useful you think a smartwatch is, Android Wear is becoming the least-restrictive platform out there. Now you can pick from different watch styles, screen shapes, and phone OSes. Google says the Android Wear app should start rolling out to the App Store right now.